Psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) among older people living at home

Figures & data

Table 1 Item-to-total correlations (Spearman’s r_s) of the GHQ-30

Item no	Item content	rs	P-value
1	Been able to concentrate on whatever you’re doing	0.31	<0.01
2	Lost much sleep over worry	0.49	<0.01
3	Been having restless, disturbed nights	0.32	<0.01
4	Been managing to keep yourself busy and occupied	0.37	<0.01
5	Been getting out of the house as much as usual	0.35	<0.01
6	Been managing as well as most people would in your shoes	0.28	<0.01
7	Felt on the whole you were doing things well	0.38	<0.01
8	Been satisfied with the way you’ve carried out your tasks	0.44	<0.01
9	Been able to feel warmth and affection from those near to you	0.22	<0.01
10	Been finding it easy to get on with other people	0.25	<0.01
11	Spent much time chatting with people	0.36	<0.01
12	Felt that you are playing a useful part in things	0.36	<0.01
13	Felt capable of making decisions about things	0.32	<0.01
14	Felt constantly under strain	0.45	<0.01
15	Felt you could not overcome your difficulties	0.59	<0.01
16	Been finding life a struggle all the time	0.64	<0.01
17	Been able to enjoy your normal day-to-day activities	0.22	<0.01
18	Been taking things hard	0.62	<0.01
19	Been getting scared or panicky for no good reason	0.56	<0.01
20	Been able to face up to your problems	0.28	<0.01
21	Found everything getting on top of you	0.63	<0.01
22	Been feeling unhappy and depressed	0.68	<0.01
23	Been losing confidence in yourself	0.63	<0.01
24	Been thinking of yourself as a worthless person	0.60	<0.01
25	Felt that life is entirely hopeless	0.66	<0.01
26	Been feeling hopeful about your own future	0.41	<0.01
27	Been feeling reasonably happy, all things considered	0.35	<0.01
28	Been feeling nervous and strung-out all the time	0.63	<0.01
29	Felt that life isn’t worth living	0.52	<0.01
30	Found at times you couldn’t do anything because your nerves were too bad	0.56	<0.01

Abbreviation: GHQ-30, 30-item version of the General Health Questionnaire.

Table 2 Differences in total GHQ-30 scores for groups with expected low and high scores

Groups with expected low scores	n	Md	iqr	Groups with expected high scores	n	Md	iqr	P-value
Being in good health	1664	22	18–27	Being in ill health	112	29.5	24–42	<0.001
Not perceiving helplessness	1658	21	18–27	Perceiving helplessness	170	34	28–45	<0.001
Not perceiving loneliness	1642	21	18–27	Perceiving loneliness	200	32	27–42	<0.001
Not perceiving anxiety	1664	21	18–27	Perceiving anxiety	176	33.5	28–42	<0.001
Not perceiving depressive mood	1597	21	18–26	Perceiving depressive mood	233	34	28–42	<0.001

Abbreviations: GHQ-30, 30-item version of the General Health Questionnaire; Md, median; iqr, interquartile range.

Table 3 Principal components analysis with varimax rotation of GHQ-30 for the study group

Item no and content	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Factor 4
1. Been able to concentrate		0.65
2. Lost much sleep over worry				0.62
3. Have had restless, disturbed nights				0.68
4. Managed to keep busy and occupied		0.72
5. Getting out of the house		0.64
6. Managed as well as most people
7. Felt you were doing things well		0.60
8. Satisfied with the way of doing things		0.59
9. Felt warmth and affection from others			0.69
10. Got on with other people			0.62
11. Spent much time chatting with people		0.56
12. Felt that playing a useful part in things		0.63
13. Felt capable of making decisions		0.49
14. Felt constantly under strain	0.47
15. Felt you could not overcome difficulties	0.48
16. Been finding life a struggle all the time	0.62
17. Enjoyed normal day-to-day activities			0.66
18. Been taking things hard	0.58
19. Getting scared for no good reason	0.63
20. Been able to face up to your problems		0.43
21. Found everything getting on top of you	0.67
22. Been feeling unhappy and depressed	0.74
23. Been losing confidence in yourself	0.70
24. Thinking you are a worthless person	0.73
25. Felt that life is entirely hopeless	0.75
26. Felt hopeful about your own future		0.46
27. Felt happy, all things considered			0.47
28. Felt nervous and strung-out all the time	0.76
29. Felt that life isn’t worth living	0.63
30. Couldn’t do anything – nerves too bad	0.76
Percentage of the variance explained	33.48	8.34	4.58	3.60
Cronbach’s alpha coefficients	0.92	0.84	0.56	0.58

Abbreviation: GHQ-30, 30-items version of the General Health Questionnaire.